I think there's few things that are as good at making a game thoroughly boring as not having any +Buy (Or any other ways to gain multiple cards per turn.) No Villages usually makes a game less interesting, but there can still be some interesting strategy in how to navigate around the tight terminal space. The particular problem with no +Buy is that you're immediately at a hard cap of one Province a turn. Building a complicated deck becomes pointless, and if a really cool engine were otherwise possible it just feels sad. And then often it's already gg if you're 2 Provinces behind because it's mathematically impossible to catch up.

I see your point but it is fun to find the subtle ways to get an edge in such games, if possible -- keeping 1 of your Estates in a Jack game, buying Death Cart just for a potential Ruined Market, racing to Princess, etc. Alt VP can mix it up -- 1 Province per turn vs 1 Vineyard per turn, 1 Province per turn vs Dominate every other turn, Duchy vs. Triumphal Arch points, etc. And of course there are other types of payload besides gains which even without gaining anything can out pace 1 Province per turn.

No extra gains boards are what kills engine potential way more than no Village boards. Even the weirdest of extra gains like Delve or Beggar can be made to make work sometimes, but almost never a single gain board.

COMPLETELY!. It's the biggest hole in Dominion (in general). I hope since the new Renaissance is thought to play of guilds, that they will add a TON of buys (and new and interesting ways to get buys via all the artifacts and stuff). We'll see.

I think there's few things that are as good at making a game thoroughly boring as not having any +Buy (Or any other ways to gain multiple cards per turn.) No Villages usually makes a game less interesting, but there can still be some interesting strategy in how to navigate around the tight terminal space. The particular problem with no +Buy is that you're immediately at a hard cap of one Province a turn. Building a complicated deck becomes pointless, and if a really cool engine were otherwise possible it just feels sad. And then often it's already gg if you're 2 Provinces behind because it's mathematically impossible to catch up.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

I would think that it's a challenge how to consistently reach this hard cap of one Province, to decide whether to buy a Duchy or a card that makes me attain €8 more consistently, etc.

I also like periodic single province games because it can put more emphasis on when to start greening. In big engine games with lots of buys, it seems like you just keep building and building until you can end the game on a win.

This is why I never liked the removal of Woodcutter. Even a weak +Buy can be completely game-changing when it's the best +Buy on the board, and it can be really interesting having to find a way to work with it.

This is why I never liked the removal of Woodcutter. Even a weak +Buy can be completely game-changing when it's the best +Buy on the board, and it can be really interesting having to find a way to work with it.

Yeah, Woodcutter is a much more interesting card than the new nerfed Chancellor.

This is why I never liked the removal of Woodcutter. Even a weak +Buy can be completely game-changing when it's the best +Buy on the board, and it can be really interesting having to find a way to work with it.

Yeah, I sort of miss it too. It just felt like a card that had to exist. In the end, though it was like Herbalist. You only get it for the +Buy, and you always get it grudgingly. I guess that's reason enough to give the axemen the axe.

This is why I never liked the removal of Woodcutter. Even a weak +Buy can be completely game-changing when it's the best +Buy on the board, and it can be really interesting having to find a way to work with it.

Yeah, I sort of miss it too. It just felt like a card that had to exist. In the end, though it was like Herbalist. You only get it for the +Buy, and you always get it grudgingly. I guess that's reason enough to give the axemen the axe.